Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Microbots4Enviro (Versatile Micromotors for Photocatalytic Environmental Remediation)
Reporting period: 2020-07-01 to 2022-06-30
The adoption of nano/micromotors for environmental remediation is a cutting-edge concept, which also contains multidiscipline knowledge and skills. These tiny intelligent “on-the-fly” micromotors can transform energy from their environment to autonomous movement and therefore usually exhibit a more efficient degradation of organic pollutants as compared to the stationary ones because of the enhanced mixing and mass transfer and effective contact probability in the water by vigorous movement. Hence, this project offers an efficient and intelligent method to address the global environmental degradation challenge, which finally contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation.
Objectives of this Marie Skłodowska Curie Action (MSCA) have been to (i) develop novel photocatalytic micromotors to clean polluted water bodies under the illumination of visible light, (ii) establish the composition-microstructure-performance-application relationship of photocatalytic micromotors via advanced characterization and analysis techniques, and (iii) understand the effect of size and structure on the movement behavior of micromotors via visualized path tracking method. A parallel objective of the MSCA Individual Fellowship is to foster the career development of the individual researcher.
(1) Peer-reviewed research work, which is published in
the dye pollutant model).
(2) Peer-reviewed review work, which is published in
(3) Peer-reviewed review work, which is published in
For the exploitation and dissemination of results, the Fellow has participated in 3 experimental training activities, 8 international conferences, and 8 workshops. Among them, the training at the beamline of Materials Science in the Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste (Italy) for a week is a very special and precious experience since she not only acquired the basic knowledge of the generation and utilization of radiation but also had the access to the advanced characterization equipment. Experimental operation and data analysis were conducted to offer a deep understanding of such a cutting-edge technology via measuring UPS and XPS with high energy resolution and tunable excitation energy, resonant photoemission (RPES), and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopies. She provided supervision and mentoring for early career researchers and participated in the Ph.D. recruitment conference of UCT Prague. She is also a member of the American Chemical Society. Furthermore, she has applied for 6 Grants, including Junior Star 2022 from the Czech Science Foundation, the Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the Program for Distinguished Young Scholars from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, etc.
This MSCA allowed the Fellow to develop moving micro-scale machines to clean the contaminated water body with novel research methodologies and promote best practices in environmental remediation. The Fellow and her collaborators are generating important new knowledge and skills about the design concept and fabrication approaches of new micromotor-based systems that support creativity in science and engineering production and at the same time contribute to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) via address the efficiency and controllability of current environmental remediation systems.